Derbyshire MP Pauline Latham launched a stinging attack on fellow MP Chris Williamson during a House of Commons debate, claiming that he used dirty tactics in the campaign for Derby North in the run-up to the June General Election - calling them the “worst I have ever seen”.

She was taking part in a debate on abuse and intimidation of candidates and the public during the election campaign and said she was speaking up for Conservative candidate Amanda Solloway, “who no longer has a voice in Parliament” because she lost her seat.

Mrs Latham, Tory MP for Mid Derbyshire, told the Commons that Mrs Solloway had been subject to false accusations online and "vile abuse" on social media.

And she accused Labour's Mr Williamson of having “direct involvement” in the setting up of a fake Facebook page during the campaign called “unauthorised Amanda Solloway” and featuring Mrs Solloway, who beat Mr Williamson in the 2015 election by 41 votes.

Derby North MP Chris Williamson making a speech after winning the election

The Facebook page, which Mrs Latham said has since been removed, featured three directors of a company which had become insolvent over 12 months ago but Mrs Latham said it only focused on Mrs Solloway’s husband and “the others were not mentioned”. She added: "Bringing her name up in association was just about tarnishing her reputation for no reason."

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Mrs Latham was one of several MPs who gave examples of how they or their colleagues had been the target of abuse on social media during the General Election campaign.

She went on to say: “An unfair link was made between Mrs Solloway and her husband.

"Video statements made by her opponent, the new member for Derby North, about the unfair link to her husband's business appeared on this Facebook page.

"That would suggest he had direct involvement in the overall strategy of this page. If he didn't, how were the videos made available?"

Derby North MP Chris Williamson and Mid Derbyshire MP Pauline Latham

Mrs Latham told MPs the page said Ms Solloway must have been involved in her husband's business, and was therefore culpable for people who had lost money.

She also said that the Facebook page showed photographs of the couple dressed up and going out for the evening, implying that they were wealthy, which “they are not”, she added.

Mrs Latham said that photographs of their daughter’s wedding day also appeared on the site with an implication that it had taken place on the proceeds of the insolvency.

She said: “This was a targeted, personal and unfair campaign against our former colleague, in fact, I would say it was bullying. Many people could have been influenced by this vile abuse on social media.

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"I think the final straw was that the current Member of Parliament asked people who'd been affected by the bankruptcy to join him at a meeting, to discuss how he would return their money.

"He said he would pay their expenses to attend his meeting and the money was raised through donations through a YouCaring compassionate crowdfunding page.

"All this was done by video on the page by the current member for Derby North, asking for these donations so that he would be able to meet those who had lost money at a venue in Derby - most of the people were not from Derby - and presumably promise that he and he alone would stand up for these people."

Mid Derbyshire MP Pauline Latham, centre, in the House of Commons (Image: Parliamentlive.tv)

Mrs Latham said Mr Williamson "had never come to terms" with the fact Ms Solloway won the seat in 2015.

Ms Solloway's husband was one of three directors for Compass Debt Counsellors, which offered to eradicate household debts for clients by charging fees to deal with creditors on their behalf, while at the same time reducing the amount they owed.

The firm went into voluntary liquidation last year, with reports the company's collapse left hundreds of households facing the loss of large sums of money.

Mrs Latham also cited the fact that her own campaign posters and signs were stolen or defaced with swastikas during the General Election campaign.

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She said: "I fully expect, after I've exposed what has happened to Amanda, to receive threats following this debate for speaking out on these issues, which must be aired so the public understand what we do have to put up with.

"But the behaviour of the member for Derby North was the worst I have ever seen, and I hope the sensible wing of the Labour Party and not those extreme left-wingers, who are clearly just like Militant used to be, will win the day and stop this kind of personalised campaigning."

Mrs Solloway was also targeted during the campaign by leaflets making false claims from "Operation Muslim Vote" distributed outside a Derby mosque, Mrs Latham added.

Former Derby North MP Amanda Solloway

Mr Williamson, who was not in the Commons to hear the debate, said that Mrs Latham was “deliberately mischief-making”. He denied being involved in the false Facebook page and said: “"This is the first I've heard about leaflets being distributed at the mosque, I'm not sure what the problem is with that if it's true though?

"Regarding the other accusations, I'm quite proud to say that, since the election, I have been working with several constituents who lost thousands of pounds to Compass Debt Counsellors, owned by Robert Solloway, the husband of the former MP of Derby North.

"I still encourage any of the victims of Compass to come forward and take part in the national campaign that we're developing. The issue of Compass was first raised during the election in a Facebook video we made - I encourage everyone to watch it."